Grumman F-14 Super Tomcat

The F-14 Super Tomcat was the last variation of this legendary aircraft. She entered into service in 1974 with the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Enterprise (CVN-65) and ruled the skies until she was finally retired from the U.S. Navy’s active fleet on September 22, 2006.

Due to astronomical costs to keep her operational and the emergence of the lethal Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. It was inevitable that the Grumman F-14 Tomcat would be retired. Don’t worry! The fleet is still in good hands but the Navy sure misses the Tomcat but NOT its adversaries. This aircraft was so deadly, she could be pulled out of retirement right now and still be a formidable frontline fighter!

Grumman F-14 Tomcat – Last Official Flight – Worth Seeing!

The final two F-14 Squadrons, the VF-213 Black Lions and the VF-31 Tomcatters landed for the last time at Naval Air Station Oceana on March 10, 2006. It wasn’t until September 22. 2006 when the Navy conducted the F-14 retirement ceremony where she officially flew for the final time. Well almost, she did fly one more time on October 6, 2006 which was a simple ferry.

She flew for the last and final time from NAS Oceana, Virginia up to Republic Airport in Farmingdale, New York. You can watch her “OFFICIAL” final flight in the video above and see her fly in all her glory. The F-14 Tomcat was a super predator feared by our enemies and loved by an entire nation. To me, the F-14 Tomcat was the most beautiful fighter plane ever built and the most deadly. I hope you enjoy the last flight!

F-14 Tomcat Top Speed

Before we talk about the F-14 Tomcat Top Speed, let’s talk about the heart and soul of this airplane, the engines. Not only is the F-14 Super Tomcat the most beautiful airplane ever created. She is also one of the most deadliest. The F-14 Tomcat was built to counter the Mig-25 Foxbat which was a Russian high altitude interceptor.

The United States Navy had nothing in their inventory to counter this threat so Grumman designed the F-14 Tomcat and the rest is history. The F-14 Tomcat is powered by powerful twin Turbofan, General Electric F110 jet engines. These beasts can reach a top speed of 1,544 mph and with it’s variable-geometry wings and aerodynamic design can fly at low speed too!

This makes the F-14 Tomcat a superb dogfighter and extremely maneuverable. In the right hands of a capable pilot the F-14 Tomcat can outmatch just about any jet fighter in service. This includes even today’s hi-tech military aircraft. They only retired her because of costs and NOT performance. She was DEADLY!

Even though the F-14 Tomcat was a great dogfighter, she could also target 6 aircraft at the same time with the revolutionary Phoenix missile system. The AIM-54 Phoenix is a radar-guided, long-range air-to-air missile (AAM). The F-14 could carry six of these bad boys. The AN/AWG-9 guidance radar was the first aerial weapons system that could engage multiple targets simultaneously.

The Movie That Started It All – Top Gun Legendary Opening Scene & Credits!

The F-14 Tomcat was featured in the 1986 blockbuster hit, “TOPGUN”! That movie put the F-14 on the world stage and is still considered one of the most famous airplanes of all time just because of a movie. In the fighter pilot community, the F-14 Tomcat is world famous for another reason and it’s not because of the movie!

Top Gun brings back a lot of memories and is one of the great movies of all-time! Anyone over the age of 45 remembers when this movie hit the box office. This movie also inspired a generation of fighter pilots who all dreamed of flying the F-14 just like “Maverick” and “Iceman” did in the movie.

Go ahead and watch the short video presentation above. This is the opening scene to the legendary movie Top Gun. The video is only 8 or 9 minutes long. Make sure you have your sound all the way up so you can hear the music and the unmistakeable roar from those nasty F-14 Tomcat engines. Sit back, relax and enjoy the show!

Top Gun is one of my all time favorite movies so I thought I’d share this clip with you. After all, you van’t talk about the F-14 Tomcat and not mention Top Gun. The F-14 Tomcat is what makes the movie great as far as I’m concerned. Anyways, I hope that you enjoyed the video presentation as much as I did.

F-14 Tomcat Cockpit

The F-14 Tomcat Cockpit is where all the magic happens and is a fight pilots dream! The F-14 fits a fighter pilot and its crew just like a glove. It’s like strapping the F-14 to your butt! All the controls are easily accessible and the HUD (Heads Up Display) supplies the pilot with all the information he needs.

The cockpit photo above is from the last variation of the F-14 which was the F-14D. As you can see it’s a tight fit in there so make sure you don’t eat too many cheeseburgers or they’ll kick you out of the flight program. All kidding aside, the F-14 is a two seat fighter plane outfitted with Martin-Baker GRU-7A rocket-propelled ejection seats.

The pilot in command sits up front while the flight engineer sits right behind him. It’s the pilots job to fly the airplane while the engineer is in charge of the weapons systems among other responsibilities. The F-14 has great all around view from inside the cockpit so the pilot has an unprecedented view of what’s going on outside the aircraft.

Inside the nose of the F-14 are several bulky avionics systems which include the Hughes AN/AWG-9 X band radar and has integrated Identification friend or foe antennas. These are the eyes and ears of the Tomcat and was the most advanced radar system in the world at the time. There was no sneaking up on this cat!

There were many upgrades to the F-14 Tomcat Cockpit while she was in service. As technology and weapons systems got better so did the F-14 Tomcat! There was a total of 712 Tomcats built and their were 4 variations of it. The F-14, F-14A, F-14B and the F-14D. Each variation was better than the last ending with the F-14D Super Tomcat.

F-14 Super Tomcat – The Discovery Channel – Wings Documentary

The F-14 Tomcat is one of the greatest fighter planes ever built and she ruled the skies during her time. She was the big stick the U.S. Navy was looking for in a time when she was needed the most. It was a sad day when the F-14 was finally retired. However, all things come to an end but we’ll never forget the F-14 Tomcat!

She is probably the all-time BEST Naval Fighter plane. There has never been anything like it since or ever again. I don’t think we’ll ever see another swept wing fighter like the F-14 ever again but that’s okay. There is only one F-14 Tomcat and it should stay that way. I am in favor of bringing her back out of retirement.

Some of the Navy Brass are in favor of bringing her back but that remains to be seen. If there is a way to bring down the operations cost, they might consider it but I wouldn’t hold my breathe. There were projected variants of the F-14 that were never built. Perhaps they will consider building those variants in the future.

I’ve seen concept art of a stealth version of the F-14 Tomcat that looked like a Buck Rogers spaceship. It would be interesting to see a stealth version of the F-14 someday. To me, the F-14 Tomcat will always be the most beautiful girl in the room. There’s just nothing else that looks as sexy as the F-14 Tomcat!

F-14 Flight Sim

How would you like to fly the F-14 Super Tomcat right NOW? Even though the F-14 has been retired from service you can still fly her in all her glory with the MOST REALISTIC flight simulator ever created for a home PC!

Climb aboard the LEGENDARY F-14 Tomcat and blast-off the deck of an aircraft carrier. Virtual Pilot 3D is the MOST ADVANCED flight sim you can buy! There is no other flight simulator game on the market that even comes close! This is NOT just a F-14 Flight Sim! Virtual Pilot 3D has well over 200 airplanes and helicopters to choose from.

Each aircraft is exactly like their real-life counterparts. If it’s in the plane than in it’s in the game. Every cockpit is an exact replica and all the knobs and switches are clickable. YOU have to fly these planes just like a real pilot would or you can fly around arcade style. The choice is always yours with Virtual Pilot 3D!

Go ahead and click the button below to fly the F-14 Super Tomcat NOW! Even if you’ve never flown a plane before. Virtual Pilot 3D will have you up in the air in no time at all. There are video tutorials so Virtual Pilot 3D has got you covered. If you have any comments or questions. Please leave them below and I’ll get back to you A.S.A.P.!

General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon – The “ULTIMATE” Bird Of Prey!

The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon first flew on January 20, 1974 and entered service with the United States Air Force (USAF) on August 17, 1978. She is still in service today with well over 4,500 aircraft built since it went into production in 1976. The United States Air Force along with 25 other nations fly the F-16 Fighting Falcon and she is also flown by the World famous USAF Thunderbirds.

The F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single seat multi-role fighter plane that will give any frontline fighter a run for it’s money. Especially, in the hands of an experienced fighter pilot. The F-16 is equipped with a internal M61 Vulcan cannon plus 11 locations for mission equipment and mounting weapons. The F-16 is famous for her frameless bubble canopy and a pilot’s seat that is reclined 30 degrees in order to reduce the effect of g-forces on the pilot.

In addition to better visibility and less effect of g-forces on the pilots body. The control stick is mounted on the side of the cockpit for ease of control while maneuvering the airplane. She is also the first aircraft to fly using a relaxed static stability/fly-by-wire flight control system which is why the F-16 is so maneuverable.

The F-16’s OFFICIAL name is the “Fighting Falcon”, but over the years her pilots and crews often refer to her as the “Viper” because of her uncanny resemblance to the Colonial Viper star-fighter on Battlestar Galactica which was a popular sci-fi television show back in the 1970’s and revised again in 2003. You can clearly see the resemblance below!

F-16 Top Speed

The F-16 Top Speed at sea level is Mach 1.2 (915 mph, 1,470 km/h) and at altitude is Mach 2 (1,320 mph; 2,120 km/h) with a clean configuration which means she’s flying without missiles or drop tanks. She has a service ceiling of 50,000+ ft (15,240+ m) and a rate of climb of 50,000 ft/min (254 m/s). That’s a little over 4 minutes to reach 50,000 ft so she’s flying like a rocket!

Her superior lightweight design and easy low-cost maintenance is why she is still in service today. The F-16 flies for the United States Air Force and 25 other countries throughout the world. She is a GREAT frontline fighter for any Air Force and is one of the most versatile and maneuverable aircraft ever designed for combat operations.

The F-16 is deadly in the right hands and is feared by her enemies. She has evolved into the ultimate bird-of-prey and just like fine wine, only gets better with age. There’s no reason why the F-16 won’t be around in another 50 years. It was a design way ahead of it’s time and because of leaps in technology. She still holds her edge against even some of the newer fighters in service today.

Her outstanding maneuverability and unprecedented raw power would not be possible without her engine. The initial power plant selected for the F-16 was the Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-200 after-burning turbofan. This was a modified version of the F-15 Eagle’s F100-PW-100, which was rated at 23,830 lbf (106.0 kN) thrust.

Over the years, new and more powerful engines were developed which made the F-16 even more powerful and deadlier than ever before! The General Electric F110-GE-132 turbofan has a maximum thrust of 32,500 lbf (144.6 kN) which is the highest thrust engine ever developed for the F-16 fighter.

F-16 Cockpit

The one thing pilots love most about the F-16 Cockpit is the superior field of view. You can see everything right from the cockpit because of the frameless bubble canopy and the position of the pilots seat. You get an unprecedented 360° all-round visibility with a 40° look-down angle over each side of the aircraft and a 15° look-down angle over the nose (compared to the 12–13° you get with other fighter aircraft).

The F-16 cockpit was designed for the fighter pilot to see and control the aircraft like never before. This is a cockpits cockpit and everything the engineers could think of was designed into this cockpit. Inside the cockpit is the ACES II zero/zero ejection seat which is reclined at an unusual tilt-back angle of 30°.

This allows a more comfortable flight for taller pilots and it makes it a whole lot easier to tolerate those G forces too! Other fighter planes have a tilted pilots seat of only 13–15° so the pilot sits in a more upright position. Sitting in an F-16 cockpit is almost like sitting in a Lazy Boy recliner in your home.

Another big change in the cockpit was the positioning of the control stick. Instead of the control stick being between the pilots legs they moved it to the right side of the cockpit. This makes controlling the F-16 a whole lot easier. Especially, in a high G turn and with its state-of-the-art fly-by-wire system, which makes the F-16 even easier to control.

USAF Thunderbirds

The USAF Thunderbirds are an air demonstration squadron based at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada and assigned to the 57th Wing. The Thunderbirds have been showing off their skills for 65 years and counting. They were created in 1953 and are the third oldest flying aerobatic team in the world, after the United States Navy Blue Angels formed in 1946 and the French Air Force Patrouille de France formed in 1931.

If you’ve never seen the Thunderbirds in action, I strongly recommend you find a way to one of their airshows because this is an experience like no other. You have to see the Thunderbirds in person to understand exactly what I’m talking about so make sure you add the Thunderbirds to your bucket list if you haven’t already.

Since 1953, when the Thunderbirds were created. They have flown many different aircraft in their shows with my favorite being the F-4 Phantom and F-16. Not any old fighter jet makes the cut so you can be sure that the Thunderbirds are flying the BEST America has to offer so here are the aircraft that have made the cut over the years.

The first Thunderbirds to take to the skies was the F-84 Thunderjet/Thunderstreak. the second aircraft was the F-100 Super Sabre, the third Thunderbird was the F-4 Phantom II. the fourth Thunderbird was the T-38 Talon and the final and current aircraft is the F-16 Fighting Falcon. The F-16 Fighting Falcon is the longest flying Thunderbird at 30 years and still counting.

Fly Amongst The Solo Thunder 🌟 USAF Thunderbirds 🌟 A Kick-Ass RIDE!

All right pilots! I have a real treat for you today so buckle your seat belts and get ready for a KICK-ASS RIDE! I do have to warn you that this is NOT a flight for the faint of heart! So, if you’re ready for the flight of your life, than watch the video above NOW. This is a MUST WATCH video for flight enthusiasts. You guys are going to love it!

You are moments away from getting a first person view of what it’s like to fly with the World Famous Fabulous Thunderbirds. You’ll get to sit in the cockpit of the F-16 and perform maneuvers that will turn your stomach inside out and make your teeth and bones rattle too. Go ahead and watch the video and enjoy the flight. I hope you don’t get airsick!

I hope you enjoyed that magnificent flight as much as I did. Could you imagine doing that for a living? I’d fly for FREE if I ever got the chance but with that said. I really do hope you had a blast during your incredible flight aboard the Thunderbirds F-16 Fighting Falcon. I know you just watched the video and are all pumped up. Who wouldn’t be?

Well, I have another surprise for you! It’s even better than that awesome Thunderbirds video you just watched. How would you like to fly a real F-16 Fighting Falcon yourself? I’m NOT talking about the physical airplane but something almost as good as the real thing and a flight experience like no other in the gaming industry. GUARANTEED or you fly for FREE!

F-16 Flight Simulator!

Introducing the World’s MOST REALISTIC F-16 Flight Simulator, the AMAZING Virtual Pilot 3D! You will NOT find a more realistic flight simulator anywhere online and that includes some of the BEST flight simulator games on the market today!

Virtual Pilot 3D is way more than a flight simulator game and rivals flight sims like Microsoft’s Flight Simulator X! Virtual Pilot 3D is the GREATEST flight simulator game that you’ve never heard of before. That’s because Virtual Pilot 3D is NOT available in stores and can only be found online.

You are about to fly the MOST REALISTIC F-16 ever created for a flight simulator game. The F-16 is just one of over 200 airplanes and helicopters to choose from. Heck, you can even fly the Space Shuttle too! Like I said, Virtual Pilot 3D is more than a game and unlike any other flight simulator you’ve flown before. GUARANTEED!

Jump into the cockpit of the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon NOW by clicking on the orange button below. You are moments away from a flight simulator experience that is second to none. This is flight simulation at its BEST and it’s just a click away! So, are you ready to finally fly a real flight simulator game?

Eurofighter

The first prototype of the Eurofighter Typhoon made its first flight on August 6, 1986. This was a technology demonstration aircraft built by the British Aerospace EAP. Early test flights were successful and exceeded all operational requirements to be a great air superiority fighter. The Eurofighter would become the largest multinational collaboration project ever assembled by France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.

The first prototype of the finalized Eurofighter Typhoon made its first flight on March 27, 1994 and flew flawlessly during her test flights. She was originally designed to be an air superiority fighter that is extremely agile. The Typhoon was specifically designed to be a supremely effective dogfighter in combat. This AMAZING airplane is one of the BEST front line fighter planes in the world today!

On January 30, 1998, the very first production contract was signed between Eurofighter GmbH, Eurojet and NETMA. The first Air Force’s in Europe to receive Typhoons were Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. The procurement totals were as follows: Germany 180, Italy 121, Spain 87 and UK 232. On August 4, 2003, the first Eurofighter Typhoons went into service and Germany received the very first series production Eurofighter (GT003).

In 2003, Spain also took delivery of its first series production aircraft and became the second Air Force in Europe to receive Typhoons. Unfortunately, soon after the Spanish Air Force had a training accident near Otepää in Estonia. The pilot inadvertently released a AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missile which either self-destructed in air or landing somewhere unexploded. There were no human casualties and the AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missile was never found.

On December 16, 2005, the European Typhoon reached initial operational capability (IOC) with the Italian Air Force (Aeronautica Militare). Italy became the third country in Europe to have operational Typhoons with the UK becoming fourth country in Europe on August 9, 2007. The Austrian government announced its decision to buy the Eurofighter Typhoon on July 2, 2002. The purchase included 18 Typhoons, logistics, maintenance, training and a Eurofighter Flight Simulator.

Eurofighter Typhoon

The Eurofighter Typhoon has an intentionally relaxed stability design making the Typhoon a very agile aircraft at both low and supersonic speeds. This INCREDIBLE aircraft will give any fighter plane in the world a run for its money. That includes 5th generation and stealth fighter planes as well. In the right pilots hands, the MIGHTY Typhoon is DEADLY and feared by her enemies!

Looking at the Eurofighter Typhoon is like looking at fine art in a museum. She is a beautiful airplane that looks like something out of the future. The Eurofighter Typhoon is the MOST ADVNCED fighter plane ever to fly for Europe. The Eurofighter was designed during the height of the Cold War in order to counter Russian fighter planes. Before the Eurofighter, Nato countries flew American made aircraft such as the F-16 fighting Falcon.

The Eurofighter first entered service in Europe on August 4, 2003 and is still in service today. Since the Eurofighter entered service, there have been 623 Typhoons built with many more to come. The Eurofighter is so advanced and ahead of its time that it will be Europe’s frontline fighter for many decades to come. She is designed to adapt to latest technologies and can be easily refitted with the latest weapons systems and avionics.

Eurofighter Production

Each Eurofighter Typhoon costs €90 million Euros ($102,821,850.00 US Dollars) system cost Tranche 3A, £125 million Pound sterling ($158,202,500.00 US Dollars) including development plus production costs. The primary users are the Royal Air Force (UK), German Air Force, Italian Air Force and Spanish Air Force. The Eurofighter Typhoon is unique in modern combat aircraft in that there are four separate assembly lines.

Eurofighter Top Speed

The Eurofighter Top Speed is 1,550 mph which is Mach 2.02 or in more simpler terms, “Twice The Speed Of Sound”. The Typhoon has a range of 3790.005 Kilometers (2,355 Miles) which can cover the entire continent of Europe. With her superior speed, she can outrun most frontline fighters and out maneuver them even at high speeds. This is one of the most maneuverable airplanes ever built and designed to dominate its opponent in a dogfight.

You can have the most beautiful airplane in the world with the deadliest and most advanced systems ever devoted for combat. However, the most important part of an airplane is its power plant and what a power plant the Eurofighter Typhoon has under the hood. This particular engine is as advanced as the Eurofighters design and is the perfect power plant for this incredible machine. It is this power plant that makes the Eurofighter so deadly!

The Eurofighter Typhoon is fitted with two Eurojet EJ200 engines. These engines are capable of providing up to 60 kN (13,500 lbf) of dry thrust and >90 kN (20,230 lbf) with afterburners. You can take a look at one the Eurojet EJ200 engines in the photograph below. The Eurojet EJ200 engine is capable of supersonic cruise without using afterburners (Supercruise). This is an an advantage over most of its counterparts.

Only 5th generation fighters such as the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lighting are capable of supersonic cruise without using afterburners. One advantage the Eurofighter has over the F-22 is that it can launch weapons while under supercruise to extend their ranges. The EJ200 engine has the potential to be fitted with Thrust Vectoring Nozzles (TVN). This would make the Eurofighter Typhoon insanely maneuverable. She already possess SUPERIOR agility!

Eurofighter Cockpit

You can’t talk about this AWESOME airplane unless you talk about the Eurofighter Cockpit. This is where all the magic happens and is the core of the Eurofighter Typhoon. The Eurofighter Cockpit is every fighter pilots dream and is where the present day meets the future. Pilots access the cockpit by either a telescopic integral ladder or an external version of the ladder. The integral ladder is stowed in the port side of the fuselage just below the cockpit.

Once inside the cockpit, the pilot will see a glass cockpit without any conventional instruments. The Eurofighter Cockpit features three full colour multi-function head-down displays (MHDDs). All formats on each display are manipulated by means of XY cursor, soft-keys and voice Direct Voice Input or (DVI Command). She also features a voice and hands-on throttle and stick (Voice+HOTAS) plus a wide angle heads-up display (HUD) with forward-looking infrared (FLIR).

The Eurofighter Typhoon features the Direct Voice Input (DVI) system that uses a speech recognition module (SRM). The DVI provides the pilot with an additional natural mode of command and control and approximately 26 non-critical cockpit functions. This reduces the pilot workload that will enhance aircraft safety while expanding mission capabilities at the same time.

The Eurofighter Typhoon can use its Instrument Landing System (ILS) for landing in poor weather. This aircraft also features an enhanced ground proximity warning system (GPWS) and is based on the TERPROM Terrain Referenced Navigation (TRN) system used by the Panavia Tornado. This is just a fraction of the avionics and controls featured inside the Eurofighter Typhoon and why the Eurofighter Cockpit is ahead of its time!

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to fly in a real-life Eurofighter Typhoon? Well, I’ve got GREAT news for you today! All you have to do is click the play button on the video above and fly with the RAF aboard the Typhoon. Make sure your sound is turned up so you can hear every minute of this flight. You aviation enthusiasts are going to love this video because there is no music, just the beautiful sound of the twin Eurojet EJ200 engines.

So go ahead and grab some popcorn and enjoy the flight! This is the closest thing to flying the real thing so you’re going to absolutely love it! I really hope your enjoyed your flight and your feet are safely back on the ground. What an incredible feeling it must be to fly one of those things and to think it’s just another day at the office for those guys.

If you are a flight enthusiast like myself, you’re probably wanting to fly the Eurofighter yourself. There is a way to fly the Eurofighter without having to join the RAF and it’s a lot easier than you may think. You are only a click away from flying Europe’s MOST ADVANCED fighter plane inside “The Worlds MOST REALISTC Flight Simulator Game!” The only flight experience more REALISTIC than this is flying a real-life Eurofighter!

There are lots of GREAT flight simulator games on the market, I know because I’ve flown them all. Those flight simulator games are AWESOME but Virtual Pilot 3D is far SUPERIOR! In fact, you haven’t flown a REAL flight simulator until you fly Virtual Pilot 3D. This is the BEST flying experience you can get from a desktop that is so realistic, it’ll literally take your breath away!

Eurofighter Flight Simulator!

Okay Pilots! You are moments away from a 4K flying experience that is second to none! All you have to do is click on the orange button below NOW! It only takes about eight minutes to download Virtual Pilot 3D so you’ll be in the air in no time at all. WARNING! This is a REALISTIC Flight Simulator!

This is the MOST REALISTIC Eurofighter Flight Simulator you’ll find anywhere online and it’s just like flying a real-life Eurofighter! Virtual Pilot 3D is a REALISTIC flight simulator game which means that you have to fly these aircraft just like a real-life pilot. Even though you can just jump into the cockpit and fly arcade style, you can also fly like a real-life fighter pilot!

Virtual Pilot 3D has lots of flight training manuals and videos so you’ll be flying in no time at all. It’s like having your very own flight school on your computer. There is nothing like Virtual Pilot 3D on the market and is an industry leader. Virtual Pilot 3D is much, much more than just a flight simulator game! It can be used by student pilots to perfect their flying skills without the cost of an airplane and flight instructor. This is as REAL as it gets!

I know you’re ready to jump into the cockpit of the Eurofighter Typhoon. Go ahead and click on the button below and I’ll see you on the next page where you’ll see all the features Virtual Pilot 3D has to offer and there are BONUSES and a HUGE discount offer waiting for you. This is a RISK-FREE offer so you have nothing to lose! Click on the orange button below for the “ULTIMATE” flight simulation experience NOW!